Ryan Tannehill is the Aggies' No. 1 active career receiver as well as their backup quarterback.

Ryan Tannehill is the Aggies' No. 1 active career receiver as well as their backup quarterback.

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Ryan Tannehill is the Aggies' No. 1 active career receiver as well as their backup quarterback.

Ryan Tannehill is the Aggies' No. 1 active career receiver as well as their backup quarterback.

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Aggies' backup QB invaluable as receiver

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COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M safety Steven Terrell shook his head at the memory — the same motion his neck made then, too, when Ryan Tannehill blasted past him for a touchdown during camp two weeks ago.

“Ran right by me,” Terrell said, still startled by the idea. “Wow he's fast.”

Terrell will readily admit to occasionally getting beat by a receiver — it happens in his business. But ... a backup quarterback who runs routes here and there for A&M? That one was hard to swallow.

“He's just an amazing athlete,” Terrell said. “I feel like he can do anything.”

So does Tannehill's coach — another reason the backup quarterback/occasional receiver is so important to A&M's 2010 fortunes, which start 6 p.m. on Saturday against Stephen F. Austin State at Kyle Field.

“Ryan can do so many things, and I guarantee he could do more if we let him,” A&M coach Mike Sherman said. “He could probably go play safety — or punt in some situations. Just his knowledge and what he brings to the table as a competitor has been invaluable to us.”

Tannehill, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound junior, came to A&M to play quarterback, which he intends to do full time as a senior next season, with Jerrod Johnson's eligibility exhausted.

“All you can do is be patient,” Tannehill said. “I definitely want to be in there, and I have to stay ready if Jerrod goes down, even though I'd hate for that to happen. Right now, I just have to bide my time and support Jerrod, and try to make plays.”

Tannehill has done that in waves the past two seasons as a receiver, and it's a limited role he'll continue this year, even at one of A&M's deepest positions.

“I like to get in there and mix things up at receiver,” a grinning Tannehill said of Terrell's comments. “I try to run my routes the way I'd want a receiver to run them if I was quarterbacking. That helps clean a lot of things up.”

How's this, too, for a backup quarterback? Tannehill is the Aggies' No. 1 active career receiver, with 1,453 yards in the past two seasons (already seventh all-time at A&M). Nearly 80 percent of his 46 catches last year went for touchdowns or first downs in the nation's fifth-ranked offense, while he saw very little time behind center.

“He just makes that transition so smooth,” Terrell said. “He runs great routes, has great hands and is just a great player. I feel like he's an under-the-radar kind of guy.”

Tannehill doesn't intend on being that way for long. He's a pre-med major who will graduate in May, then spend his senior year in graduate studies at A&M as the anticipated starting quarterback a year from now.

“I wouldn't want to start medical school until I'm done playing football,” he said, smiling.

Sherman, a former Green Bay Packers coach, figures medical school will have to wait even longer.

“He may be an NFL doctor some day,” Sherman said. “He might have to make that choice (between the NFL and medical school).”

For now, however, Tannehill simply will bide his time as Johnson's valuable backup — and as an invaluable target.

“He finds a way to get open,” Sherman said. “He understands concepts and routes and defenses like nobody else. Some of the things he does, you really can't coach.”